Voters sack sales tax; Haddix out as PTC mayor

Tue, 11/05/2013 - 11:09amJohn Munford

A majority of Fayette voters said "no" to a proposed countywide sales tax, and while Peachtree City residents elected three councilmembers, they will face a Dec. 3 runoff election to decide whether Vanessa Fleisch or Harold Logsdon will be their next mayor. Incumbent mayor Don Haddix was sent packing with less than 250 votes.

Meanwhile in Tyrone, incumbent Post 3 councilman Ken Matthews won by a six-vote margin over challenger Pota Coston. And in Woolsey voters rejected a proposal to allow Sunday alcohol package sales by a vote of 16-12, breaking a tie from the previous election.

In Peachtree City, Kim Learnard handily won reelection to her Post 3 council seat beating Cathy Haddix 3,824 to 588. Likewise, Terry Ernst took the Post 4 seat with 2,763 votes to 1,467 for Stephanie Franz. The Post 2 seat in Peachtree City was claimed by Mike King, who pulled in 2.915 votes to beat Shayne Robinson (865) and Austin Chanslor (341).

Though county voters rejected the sales tax 5,522 to 4,135, they did approve allowing Sunday sales by the drink in establishments located in the unincorporated county. The Sunday sales initiative passed with 6.313 in favor and 3,339 against.

In the mayor's race, Fleisch won 39.2 percent of the vote to lead the pack trailed by Logsdon at 27.37 percent. The remainder of the field was led by George Dienhart with 20.29 percent, Ryan Jolly with 7.65 percent and incumbent Mayor Don Haddix bringing up the rear at 5.05 percent.

In losing the SPLOST vote, the county won't get a planned $16.8 million to handle stormwater infrastructure projects in the unincorporated county, where residents will continue to pay the stormwater utility bill. Those funds will be used to finance about $5 million in bond to handle the most urgent projects, county officials have said.

Peachtree City also loses a significant chunk of revenue, more than $14 million, with the SPLOST being sacked. The city had planned to use that money to pay for its road and cart path repairs for several years. It costs about $1.5 million a year to accomplish that, and with money exhausted from the 2004 transportation sales tax, the city will have to find a funding mechanism elsewhere.

These are the final results from tonight's election although they are not yet certified and official.

Comments

Hmmm...see that it didn't pass, so now the citizen's will have to pay more of their own money rather than using other peoples money (many who may not live here) to cover the needed and added expenses.

The irony in all of this is the people who usually vote no on such matters are the exact ones who spend less in the county anyway. It seems that most counties whom have higher home values (simply because the community they offer) usually vote yes on such matters.

You can pay some now or a lot later. Just keep kicking that can down the road. It is cheaper not to change the oil in your car but sooner or later it will cost you so much more to put in the new engine.

Dar, the sales tax was projected to raise $41 million, but the county admitted that it needed only $5 million for essential projects, which it will now fund with a bond issue. By rejecting the tax, Fayette citizens saved themselves the better part of the $36 million difference, which people living outside of the county would have come nowhere close to covering.

The reason I rejoice that the splost failed is that it contained mostly maintenance (not to mention the questionable need for some of that maintenance) and this should be done within the budgeting process. Maintenance is not a "special purpose". Our leaders must learn that we expect them to take care of business and not pet projects.

There is a price to be paid for not doing this maintenance, and we "may" pay a little more but we have put our leadership on notice that they cannot postpone maintenance and expect us to approve a bail out. It is a matter of stewardship and budgeting to cover the essentials and only doing the lifestyle improvements if there are funds.

We are all going to have to learn to live a bit more frugally under the current progressive rule of idiots. It is good to start learning close to home.

I do not and will not vote for any SPLOST because of the history of money mismanagement that Fayette co politicians have. And I'm tired of the if you don't pass this we'll tax you even more threat. Fayette County residents pay enough taxes that the needs of the county should be handled without having a SPLOST on every ballot.

What a destruction. Looks like your predictions were slightly off a tad, pumpkin. Guess we won't hear from you again and that's almost as good as watching both of the Haddix's get annihilated by the voters who said "ENOUGH."

EDIT: Thanks a lot, Busy Bee, for about giving me a heart attack when I saw the subject line of your blog :)

Because the goal was to humiliate Haddix by keeping his vote total under 200. Guess some extra clueless people wandered into the polls and voted blindly. Still, 5% of total votes is a new record for an incumbent being voted out. Previous record holder Steve Brown( at 19%) has another chance to be voted off county commission from his mostly PTC District, but I doubt he can get below 5%. He'd have to steal money, get censured and be found in a car with a defense attorney to get below 5%.

Can't figure that many votes for pumpkin either, maybe just some people being funny because they knew Kim was in for sure. I do know they both had strong support in Dover Square, but there's only 100 votes there, if that.

I do think we can credit Mr. Haddix with the strong voter turnout. Over 4,000 came out to let their voices be heard. Pretty sure it was the mayor's race more than the sales tax that did it.

Mr. Brown, I am deeply respectful of you, but why celebrate the first female mayor of PTC? It sounds like you're from the 70s, because women are holding office everywhere. Is that a news flash for you?

Seems inappropriate for a sitting elected official, but I'm sure he's doing whatever is best for him to gain maximum publicity. Also seems premature because even though he is correct about the majority of George's voters, one has to consider that tons of Vanessa and Harold voters will not show up on runoff day, so anything can happen.
He may actually believe that he will be getting a Vanessa endorsement when he tries for reelection and that's pretty funny.

You are way over thinking things. I do not want to see Logsdon back for sure. His campaign material was enough to remind me of why we do not need his politics back.

Peachtree City needs to get its planning mojo back. The well-manicured thoroughfares and instinctive planning elements have diminished since the Logsdon privatization of the workforce and wheel-dealing with the land use plan days.

Can you clarify the differences between Ms. Fleisch and Mr. Logsdon? It appears that Mr. Dienhart or one of his supporters planted a blog in June of this year comparing all of the candidates. (Pretty sure it was George since he likes to blog and spoke about things that the general public would not have known yet.)

ptcelection.blogspot.com/2013/06/george-dienhart-for-mayor.htmlâ€Ž

In this blog, it states:

Vanessa Fleisch (For Mayor)

â€¢Has voted for every major tax increase since be elected.
â€¢Well connected with developers. Has voted for every major development, after promising otherwise when running for council.
â€¢Has claimed to be the most civil member of council. City employees say otherwise. Widely regarded as one of the two major faces of council discord, the other being Don Haddix.
â€¢Another council member has accused her of being a control freak and unable to work with others. Has openly said that her tenure as mayor would be disastrous.
â€¢Has offered no input to councils most important duty- creating a budget. Constantly defers to Eric Imker on budget items.

Harold Logsden (For Mayor)

â€¢Supported Heavy rail service to (and through) Peachtree City
â€¢Supported failed TSPLOST initiative
â€¢As Mayor, he formed a business partnership with the then current City Manager. He then tried to hide the arrangement from the public.
â€¢Was responsible for a rezoning effort that put a residential neighborhood next to the airport.
â€¢His constant support of developers caused the Big Box Traffic Corridor that chokes at the Hwy 54 and Hwt 74 intersection. He, along with Don Haddix are most responsible for our traffic mess.
â€¢All of his political supporters were recently removed from office: Ken Steele, Jack Smith, Herb Frady and Eric Maxwell
â€¢Supported a developer road, that was similar to the West Fayette Bypass that cost the previous county board their jobs. The road (TDK Expansion) would have routed additional traffic through Peachtree City to one million square feet of retail in Coweta County.
â€¢Announcement had no initiatives or plans within.

It seems to me that both candidates have similar faults (development). What makes Ms. Fleisch a better candidate in your mind?

PS. You may think certain candidates ran a clean race. But we can see otherwise.

If you supported her for council, why did you not use her as a link to PTC.

Sounds like it was a self inflicted problem if you didn't communicate before she advanced in the race for mayor. Perhaps commission shouldn't count their eggs before they are hatched and get along with more than two of 5 people.

That is why we didn't elect you when you ran. It isn't development or taxes. It is wise development and smart management of our resources. Neither of which we have seen much of - especially under Logsdon.

Vanessa. That is the only way to insure that we will not have Logsdon for mayor again. Evidently he has a large group (by comparison to others who ran) backing him, so it will be essential to those who do not want a repeat of former years with Logsdon to get out and vote.

If someone has the resources and maintains within our city guidelines there is not much anyone can or cannot do about development.

You are correct I didn't get voted in 8 years ago ( I'm sure for a variety of reasons) but your argument regarding taxes and retail has no merit. No one has taken my political model in the last 12 years and look how well it's worked out. We've, as a city, have not accomplished anything for our citizens...no increase in quality of life, no increase I home values, etc.

Still trying to figure out this post, mabe it the water she has been drinking, Pumpkin post follows:

LongTimer ----OMG that is too funny
see you at Ynots. Attention Chief Of Police hope you stake a car outside so all these folks won't get in their cars and kill somebody, you know they won't have just one. I sent you an email.

Poor ladies in city hall, I know who you are voting for and it is not the "X" , god knows, when I worked there he had so many of you crying with his split personality, depending on the day. I forget the lady who passed away during his tenure, but certainly she knew why and how to handle him. At least she took the brunt of it and only when she was out, especially during her very difficult time during her illness, which eventually took her life, she was the wall

First, allow me to congratulate both Ms Robinson and Mr Chanslor for stepping up to the plate and offering their service to our city. Their willingness to serve bodes well for Peachtree City, and is a testament to the value they possess as citizens of our fair city.
I am truly humbled by the trust placed in me by the turnout, and I do not take lightly the responsibility I have in representing my fellow citizens. While I am most appreciative to each and every supporter during the past three months, I take as a personal challenge to prove to the supporters of my opponents that I can serve their interests just as well.
While I look forward to open dialog on issues facing Peachtree City, I will make myself available over coffee, or lunch, or whatever to discuss my views, but more importantly to listen to the views of those I have been elected to represent.
Again, thank you.
Mike King

Anti-business candidate Ken Matthews was reelected by the no business supporters in Tyrone; once more, giving the council a full slate of electors to continue rejecting business applications.

The downtown ghost town will remain. The failed effort of a few businesses to establish a Tyrone business association cost pro-business candidate Pota Coston the 7 votes needed to help revitalize the dying town.

Tyroneâ€™s administration had been working hard this year rejecting business after business, illegally using its restrictive zoning ordinance and the help of their well paid pro-government lawyers.

On top of that all citizens have no representation in their government, being totally ignored with concerns by the council and their yes appointees to the planning commission.

You will never see anyone in the Tyrone government patronizing its businesses or supporting them in any way. The foreclosed vacant buildings with for sale signs will remain and get worse in downtown as existing businesses continue to fail, employees lose their jobs and property owners lose the investments.

Tyrone is a classical example of candidates who make promises to get elected, then become part of the status quo government taking their orders from the lawyer who is the real town manager.

I'm curious too, as to what happens now with the stormwater problems since SPLOST failed. The problems aren't going to disappear just because the 1% tax was voted down....and the problems still need to get fixed. What's the BOC's next move from here?

Don't look at the voters for the failure of the SPLOST and think that there were no better options. Look at the politicians who asked for more than they needed, threw in some pork, and who wanted special funding for something that never required a special tax in the past. What's the next move? The county can start being good stewards of the money that it already receives without expecting more.

Seems to me the problem could be fixed if the Road Dept of Public Works (who was supposed to be repairing stormwater problems all along) would skip paving every other year and use their $4 Million Budget (2012) to make necessary repairs. Why wouldn't that work?

Commission wanted to prove that they listen to those who didn't have an issue when the fee was passed last year. It was a political play as their first issue. They can all now brag that they listened and provided an alternative.

They all stuck together with the same mantra that the splost would be supplemented by others and throwing pork to the cities. I still don't understand how they could push this as members of the Tea Party.

Glad to see the Donnie Darko Era will be soon coming to an end. Certainly one of the worst mistakes in the city's history. Even worse than electing The Brown Clown in my book. And thank goodness pumpkin was trounced by Kim. The thought of two Haddixs on council sends shivers through me. The addition of Mike King and Terry Ernst to council is a vast improvement over Dienhart and The Big Hair Lady. Hopefully Harold will win in the runoff but even if The Big Hair Lady wins, that will be better than the incumbent. But there is still unfinished business to be dealt with.....that would be the defeat of Erica in the next election. He's gotta go. Wish someone like Terry Garlock or Nancy Price would step up to the plate and run. A council consisting of King, Ernst, Learnard, and either Garlock or Price with Logsdon as mayor would be good for PTC. imho

I prefer Vanessa, but I'm good with either one since no matter what we have upgraded 1000%. Replacing Eric would be good as well. I doubt Terry will run or he would have done it this time. Nancy? Good choice for sure, but I see her as city manager under the new regime.

I don't see such close similarities between Logsdon and Fleisch. Logsdon is a well proven stooge to developers and it would seem his financing demonstrates that.

And I wonder about the Kim v Cathy race. I understand why the Haddix clan is viewed as they are but Kim has never met a tax she didn't like. It would seem we would have gotten more fight for stewardship and economy from Cathy. They seem like the archetypal big government v small government race.

It is done. The ladies are likely to lead the race to tax and spend (it is for the children you know). Ernst and King will likely fight for a more frugal balance. Who know what Imker will do. It makes me shudder to think he is the swing vote again.

The citizens of PTC can now rest easy! Haddix got what he deserved for his awful performance during the last four years and he rightfully earned the distinction of being the most disliked former PTC Mayor.